The challenges of selling Africa (and why it should top your bucket list)

Promoting, and selling Africa hasn’t been easy, and it still isn’t. Over the years, I have given many seminars, presentations and discussions about the benefits and joys of travel to Africa. Unfortunately, there are many who believe the negative portrayal in the media and this is the main reason they will not travel.

The number one reason above all others results from the misinformation that when one thing happens in Africa, it applies to the entire continent, so potential travelers believe that IT’S NOT SAFE. Tanzania has been for the past fifteen years I have been traveling there, the MOST STABLE country in the region, with no incidents to deem it unsafe.

Here are some of the reasons you’ll not want to wait to plan your safari.

One Elephant is Killed Every Fifteen Minutes

In 2014 and 2015 over 3200 rhino were slaughtered by poaching

Leopards, Lions and Cheetah numbers decline each year

Land Encroachment and Tribal Relocation are threatened

Big Game Hunting isn’t slowing down

When potential travelers say, it’s on my bucket list, or someday, what that means is that you will probably never make this incredible journey. A bucket list item usually denotes far in the future, and looking to the future for some of the wildlife, is a very scary proposition, nor is it guaranteed.

My advice, take Africa off your bucket list and put it on your LIVE list. That is the only way you’ll be able to see these majestic creatures as they exist today. The future isn’t promised for us, it surely isn’t promised for the wildlife. When the demand in Asia is zero, then we can expect to see larger numbers of wildlife. How realistic do you really think that is?

So I challenge you to put Africa on the top of whatever list you have, that denotes urgency! You won’t be sorry! Most of us would not be content reading about rhino or elephants in a book, like we do about dinosaurs. We want to see them in person. This is a real life situation, so it depends on you, the reader, how much you want to see it. You decide.